Just Because the World Ends Doesn't Mean Your Story Does
by SmallNeko
Summary: The apocalypse has finally come, and no one was ready for it. Ever since his birthday, Stan has kept a journal that he's never used inside his dresser, and now he uses it to document all the events of the apocalypse. All of his classmates and friends join up to try and survive the diseases, the insane temperatures, and the rapid overgrowth of the world around them.
1. March 3rd, 2016

**A/N: I got this idea out of the blue, and I'm absolutely in love with it, so here goes. This whole story is in Stan's POV if you didn't catch that from the summary.**

**March 3rd, 2016**

If you're reading this, then know that all I've written here is just my documentation of the events that my friends and I suffered during the apocalypse. It's been two whole years since the destruction ended, also two years since I've seen my friends.

Since they've died.

The feelings I have had for these two years aren't something that just goes away on its own. It grows and matures as my life goes on; I almost feel like not living because of it, yet I trudge on through this foolish life of mine just because I can't imagine to die.

Survivor's Guilt, that's what they used to say, that's what I'm feeling. The whole escapade was the most terrible thing I have ever experienced, and it didn't do well in my mind to know that I was the only one left in the end.

I'm the only one left from my group of friends in these refugee camps, and it hurts my heart enormously knowing that they died saving only me.

Ever since then, I've felt like a completely selfish asshole, especially when even the vainest of people that I knew grew to be self-sacrificing. It stunted my way of living knowing that they did such valiant things while I just sat in the back seat watching the world pass by. All the soldiers were up in the front lines with me in the back, being protected by all their brave actions.

I was a guilt-ridden mess right afterwards, and I still am. I'll tell you right now that I don't feel like writing about all this now nor do I have the time to; I have people to lead and places to assist.

Take a look at the other entries if you want, but don't destroy them. Tell the stories in here to everyone, even if my friends died, I want their legends and memories to live on. So please, take care of this journal if you find it squeezed in between a few cans of soup in the abandoned grocery stores or something. I don't want to hold onto it anymore, it makes my heart wrench. This is most definitely my last entry, so if you find it, take a look inside and read.

Read until your eyes get weary and your mouth runs dry— because that's all that we ever felt during these events.

**A/N: I meant to make this short for a reason. It is Stan's journal of events from the apocalypse, which will be started next chapter, but this chapter is of his last entry, showing all that he felt right at the beginning of the story before we even jump into it. So, please read on into the first entry, June 18th, 2013. It's going to be a long, brutal ride until the end.**


	2. June 18th, 2013

**June 18****th****, 2013**

I actually never thought I'd use this journal. This is my first entry, and I'm not sure how the day started out anymore. A lot has happened since the morning, and it has got my brain all jumbled up. My friends and I are stuck inside a grocery store, hiding away from, well, we aren't really sure. I'll tell you a little about the morning that I remember.

I was getting ready to go to my friend Cartman's house to watch our favorite show, Terrance and Phillip, when my mom frantically ran inside my bedroom door, screaming at me that we had to get out of town. She wrapped her arms around me, the tears from her eyes staining my favorite brown jacket.

"Why? What happened mom?" I asked her, but she didn't respond back. She let go of me, threw some of the clothes from my closet inside a duffel bag that she found on the floor, and found a journal wedged inside my dresser. "Take this, and don't lose it! Write everything and anything down!" She handed the journal to me and hugged me one last time before we ran out of the door.

To be honest, I never knew that things would end up like this. Just getting up in the morning and having my mom practically push me out of the door was a frightening experience, especially with what we saw happening outside.

My mom got the car started and rushed my sister, Shelly, and my dad outside as she kept them close. I was already inside the car, my eyes widening when I saw exactly what was happening in the world around me.

Other cars were turned over, people looked as if they were suffocating, and worse yet, the town never looked more like a jungle than it did now.

That's all I could remember. After getting out of the car, I wasn't sure what happened. It was all a huge blur inside the corner of my mind. My parents and my sister, well…let's just say they didn't make it to the car.

I tried to stay strong as I made my way to the grocery store. It deemed as the only safe place left to go. Luckily, my friends had the same idea; everyone was there, and when I saw them it almost made me cry.

"Okay, first question, what the hell is going on outside?" Cartman shouted, only to have a hand slap over his mouth. It was Kyle's hand, "Shut your mouth a little, fatass! You can't be so loud, we don't even know what's happening!"

When Kyle took his hand away from Cartman's mouth, the fatass spoke again, "I'm just asking if anyone knows what's going on."

No one rose their hand or spoke a whisper. I wasn't even sure that everyone was here, so I counted heads. Cartman, Kenny, Kyle, Butters, Craig, Tweek, Clyde, Token, Wendy, Bebe, Red, and I were all here. It was mostly everyone from our class, at least some of us had made it here alive.

Bebe spoke up, "I think I know what's happening." Everyone turned their attention to Bebe as she continued on explaining the events that took place to lead to this.

To sum up what she said bluntly, I'm going to say that the world is ending. Apparently the government had found a vaccine for cancer, but when testing it on a patient, the effects of the vaccine didn't go as planned. It had turned the patient into a monster, one that could lift even a car and not break a sweat. Worse yet, the temperature was changing rapidly; the source of that was unknown to Bebe. The plants were growing all too hastily for summer. The vaccine was to grow plants and trees faster, but who would have known that it would end up turning whole entire towns into forests.

A meteor had also struck China, and that sent most of the world into panic. Panic is the worst thing that you can do in this situation, after all, it just gets more people killed in the process. After Bebe finished her explanation, we all sat in silence, contemplating what to do next.

"What are we going to do?" Clyde cried, wiping the tears from his eyes.

"All we can do is stay here, at least for a while." I said, standing up. Everyone looked up at me with pleading eyes, "All we can do, for now, is hide from the dangers outside. We need to keep each other safe, so that means that no one can betray anyone! If we tear each other apart here, then it will only get worse. No fighting, no disagreements; we need to be prepared for when something seriously terrible happens." I glanced over at Cartman and Kyle. "That means you two! Don't fight or you'll just get killed in the end!"

The two of them glared at me and then looked at each other. Kyle sighed, holding out a hand to Cartman as a sign of a truce. Cartman shook Kyle's hand and frowned, "Just don't give me shit, Jew."

"I won't, fatass, as long as you don't give any to anyone else." Kyle said with a fixed gaze. They both pulled their hands away and stared back up at me, as if waiting for a command.

"Okay," I whispered, "Now we have to assign partners, just in case any of us get lost during this. If the partner you have gets lost, you are responsible to find him or her, got it?" I waited for an answer or a nod, and after a few seconds of silence, I heard firm shouts of an agreement.

The partners that everyone chose were meant to get along, at least a little bit. I'll go through the list of pairs. Cartman and Butters, Wendy and Bebe, Kenny and Red, Craig and Tweek, Clyde and Token, and Kyle and I. Everyone except Kenny and Red got a choice to pick who they wanted. The two learned to handle each other, though, as the day wore on.

When nightfall came, we all slept on the small blankets and pillows that we found lying around the store. It wasn't the most comfortable makeshift bed in the world, but it managed to get us through the night. We all slept in a huge circle, just to make sure that no one got hurt or killed. And if they did, the rest of us would too.

**A/N: So, how'd you like the second chapter? Keep in mind that these ****_are_**** journal entries, and that means that sometimes others will be longer than others, and some might only be a few paragraphs. Also, from the first chapter, I know that some of you are upset that I 'ruined the suspense' by starting with the last entry, but I plan to do something with it. The end ties in with the beginning. It isn't taking the suspense away. Anyway, please review, a new chapter has already been started, so it should be up today or tomorrow.**


	3. June 19th, 2013

**June 19****th****, 2013**

When we woke up in the morning, the world outside had seemed to slow down since last night. The commotion of the world just disappeared that morning even though it had only started up yesterday.

The first one to wake up was Wendy, who told me all about the horrifying nightmare she had, only for her to realize that her nightmare was a reality. She wept for a few minutes until everyone finally got up. I felt really sorry for her; she must have lost her parents as well in all this confusion. Come to think of it, that's probably why everyone had ended up in the same place.

"We _are_ going to stay here for a while longer, right, Stan?" Kyle asked me as he sat up, cracking his back.

I stretched my arms and shook my head, shifting the hat on my head, "We can't…It isn't going to be safe here for long. We have to keep moving. Like Bebe said yesterday, the plants and the trees and those monster-people are growing all too fast for us to hide away in here for the rest of our lives."

"But it's dangerous out there dude, and it doesn't seem like we're ready to face the world outside just yet." Kyle's eyes focused on Clyde, who was hugging Token for dear life. He must still be frightened and shocked, I mean, all of us are, but he didn't seem to be coping well with the situation. Token patted Clyde's back, whispering words of reassurance.

I sat up straight and exclaimed, "I understand that it's dangerous outside, Kyle, but we can't stay in this town. My family all got killed yesterday, so it's dangerous to stay _here_! If you saw what happened yesterday—"

"I did…" Kyle interrupted, his tone going mournful, "My parents and Ike didn't survive either..." I remembered what I saw yesterday, the blood of my parents and Shelly splattered around on the pavement of the driveway. Kyle wiped his watery eyes and continued, "My poor brother— my little brother— the one I wanted to take care of and be there for when he got older, died! He didn't deserve to die at such an early age! And in that horrible way of being torn apart by those monsters…It shattered my heart, Stan. I don't want the same happening to any of us." Kyle's face was beat red as he wiped the tears from his eyes.

Taking a deep breath, I pulled him close. He leaned his head against my shoulder while I did the same. In between sobs, Kyle muttered, "I don't want the people I love the most to die, and that includes you…I don't want that…"

I could almost hear the sound of a piano playing in the back of my mind as I whispered, "I know…No one wants that to happen…but it's going to be okay as long as we stick together. You're my partner, remember? I'll…I'll keep you and everyone else as safe as I can."

Kyle sniffled and squeezed me tighter. I could practically hear the smile on his face as he spoke, "Yeah…You've always been a great leader, just don't fail us now."

"I promise that I'll do my best." I whispered, letting him go. Kyle's face turned back to its original pale color as he chuckled. I faintly smiled as well and stood up to grab some food for breakfast from a different aisle of the store. Everyone was telling me how hungry they were, so I decided to get a few boxes of cereal, some plastic bowls, and spoons.

The meal wasn't gourmet, but it would sustain us for the rest of the day when we set out later. Everyone was chatting and talking about things that would be recognized as cheerful and upheaving when I explained to them that we would be going outside and finding a better place to stay.

"But it's fine here, isn't it?" Red asked, a frown now masking the smile she just wore.

"Yeah, it's fine!" Butters shouted.

"I agree, we shouldn't leave yet!" Kenny nodded, agreeing with the other two's statements.

"We have to! It isn't going to be safe here much longer! Let me ask you all a question: Do you even have a family to go back to?" I stood on top of a stool, waiting for an answer from everyone. A few were silent, just shaking their heads, but the rest of them barraged me with no's. I finished with my speech, "Exactly. If we stay here, we might get killed just as they did, and do you really want that?"

Another shake of the heads. "Alright! So it's settled, we're going to set out later tonight, just in case of the monsters. Bebe, you said that they sleep at night just like any human being, right?"

Bebe nodded and moved the strands of hair that covered her eyes away from them, "I'm certain that those things sleep just as we do. We'll be fine if we go at night." Everyone turned their heads when she spoke. As soon as she finished talking, I told Kenny and Red to go grab knives and first aid kits, just in case anyone got hurt, or if we needed to defend ourselves, and I sent Cartman and Butters to get the food items we'd need to hold ourselves over.

Everyone took a nap on the floor before we actually set out into the freezing night air. We all were a bit sluggish right after we got up, but when we started preparing things in backpacks and containers, we started becoming more energetic.

"Is everyone ready?" I asked, looking behind myself as I held the door ajar. Everyone nodded their heads and shouted a yes. I grinned, slowly pushing the door while walking out of the warm and comforting grocery store and into the chilly air of the night. Once we all ambled out into the middle of the parking lot, all which could be heard were the cicadas and the breaths that we took.

We trudged through our jungle-like town in silence, afraid that if we spoke, something would wake up and attack us. It wasn't long before we found a mansion far in the outskirts of town, inside the country fields.

Struggling to march up the hill to get to the mansion, the strong ones all took turns holding the heavy items and backpacks just so others could get up the hill. Once everyone was close in the presence of the enormous mansion, we checked for lights turned on or broken windows, but found no such thing.

"Okay, does anyone here know how to pick a lock?" I set down the backpack I was holding, pulled out a bobby pin from the one pocket, and held it up. No one spoke or said a word as Craig walked up to me and grabbed the bobby pin from my hand, "You guys are all useless for not knowing how to pick a lock," He grunted as he turned the pin in the door knob, "It's pretty important to know how to do this." As soon as he finished talking, Craig turned the door knob and opened the door.

Whispered cheers rose from behind us, "Craig, you're the best!" They said as they walked in the door, following Craig's gait. I blew air out of my nose and glared at him as he led us into the house quietly and closed the door when everyone was inside. He looked over at me, and I took it as a cue for me to talk, "Now that we've found another place to stay, we need to check to see if other people are in here. If they aren't, then we can stay, but if there happens to be someone else hiding away in here, then we'll have to ask about staying. So start looking! Oh, and, uh, keep a knife with you, just in case…"

Everyone walked off into separate rooms with their partners, searching around for any other life inside the house. Kyle and I searched a few of the rooms upstairs, finding nothing but regular furniture that any old house would have, except it was trashed.

"I wonder if the people that lived here left in a hurry…" Kyle mumbled as we left the upstairs and went back down into the foyer to wait for the others to finish their searches.

"Maybe, who knows, they might have just left for a vacation into Paris or something." Kyle and I giggled at my mocking of rich people. A couple minutes later the rest of our friends arrived back near the stairs where we were sitting and reported no other signs of anyone being there. I stood up and told Craig and Tweek to bring the supplies upstairs to a safe place as the rest of us set up a dinner in the kitchen. Apparently the people in the house had left most of their food, so we were able to cook and eat the delicacies of a rich person.

Wendy and Bebe cooked up a whole meal of mashed potatoes, asparagus, and turkey while Kyle and I set the table. We all had preferences for drinks, but the majority of us got what was available from the fridge— 2% milk. Tweek, of course, couldn't go a second without coffee, so Bebe rummaged around the cabinets for coffee grounds and then brewed up some coffee for him as Wendy sat down.

"Haha, yeah, Wendy, go ahead and leave me to finish up Tweek's coffee." Bebe laughed, setting the coffee down in front of Tweek, "Here you go, darling," She whispered, ruffling the hair on his head. For once, Tweek actually didn't start to scream when someone touched him. It was a rare sight, to say the least. Bebe took a seat next to Wendy and cut up her turkey with a fork and a knife like a proper lady.

The banter that came from our mouths after we ate were the best moments of the whole day as we talked about comical memories, times of ignorance and amusement, and of things we'd never thought we'd tell anyone.

Kenny was the first to get our laughter started, "You know, I've actually thought at one point in my life that everyone in this room was attractive, but now I realized that you all are just a bunch of loser assholes!" Kenny slapped his knee, cracking up, "Go ahead, someone else tell a confession!"

We all chuckled and giggled at that, Cartman almost blowing milk out of his nose like he always does. The next person to speak was Token, "Okay, okay, I got one. One time I got so frustrated about climbing the rope in gym class that I almost shit myself."

That got the ball rolling even more as everyone's laughter seemed to fill the whole house. The moment almost felt all too nostalgic and familiar for such a dreary day.

"I got something to tell everyone!" Butters announced, cracking a smile on his face, "Remember when I kissed Eric's cheek that time? I actually enjoyed it!"

"Butters, why are you so gay?" Cartman asked with a grin.

"I dunno, I just am," Was his only response as he giggled along with the rest of us.

Clyde chuckled, "If everyone in here was gay, Red, how would you react?"

"I'd probably ask which one of you wanted to shoot me first." Wendy and Bebe both had the widest of grins on their faces as they laughed.

The rest of the dinner that we all shared went as it would have any other day, and even if the end of the world was here, it still left my lips curling upwards in optimism. _"We do have a chance to survive,"_ I thought as we headed upstairs to the bedrooms to go in for the night. All the lights had been turned off in the downstairs rooms, and now all we had left as a light was a dimly lit lamp turned on.

There were several bedrooms upstairs, only one of the rooms having two beds in it. Obviously, that one was where Kenny and Red slept in the room with Clyde and Token. I trusted that they would keep an eye on Kenny, making sure he wouldn't do any unmentionable things to Red as she tried to fall asleep. Since everyone had to sleep in a bed with their partner, it would only seem as the right thing to do to make them keep watch.

Even though Cartman thought that sleeping in a bed with Butters was obviously one of the gayest things he could do, he still agreed to do it, especially since the floors were practically just a thin sheet over a hardwood floor.

As Kyle and I lay in bed, I write my entry for this day. I have an exceptional memory, but the few things in the beginning were what I wrote early in the morning after we had breakfast, well, from what I remembered.

"What are you writing?" Kyle asked, turning on his side to face me and read through some of what I'd written.

"It's a journal. My mom told me to write everything down in it just before…" My next words were stuck in my throat, "…Never mind, but she told me to write down what happens…so I am."

"That's good…Hey, are you writing what I'm saying down?" He rose his voice a little, "Oh my god, you are! Please don't tell me that you wrote my confession down, too." I snickered and told him that he didn't have to worry about finding anything embarrassing that he said in here.

I placed the book down for a second, and turned to him, "Hey, Kyle, have you ever had fantasies about someone before?"

"What? Fantasies? Like, sexual fantasies?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No way, dude, that isn't what I meant!" I exclaimed, lowering my voice to just above a whisper, "I mean…like, about someone you love."

Kyle giggled, "Dude, I've never even kissed a girl. I wouldn't know if I loved someone even if I asked her on a date! So no, I've never had one." He quieted down and pulled the covers up a little bit more, "Why are you asking?"

"No reason, I was just…wondering, is all."

"No, really, tell me, why'd you ask?" He moved closer to me, and I shifted away a tad. I averted my eyes away from his and felt my face burn, "I just…well, the other day I had a fantasy about you…I mean, it actually wasn't a fantasy, it was a dream, but when I woke up I started to…daydream a little."

Kyle's eyes widened as he stared at me, "Whoa. I didn't know you swung that way for me, Stan…" He moved away, obviously disgusted with the thought of my lips on his.

"Don't start judging me! You haven't even given me the chance to explain why I did it." Kyle realized that his actions were rude and sighed, moving closer to me once again, "Okay, Stan, why did you have a fantasy about me?"

"Okay, I'll be very blunt. Here goes," I paused for a second and then spoke again, "I had a dream where I kissed you, and then it got me thinking about it, that's it! Nothing else. I didn't have any other reasons for fantasizing about you!"

Kyle chuckled and kissed my nose, taking my hat off my head, "There. Let's get those gay fantasies out of your head before you start going insane and it becomes too late." I stared at him, giggling as I took the green ushanka off of his head and holding it for dear life. I laughed more at the messy Jew-fro hair practically covering his whole head.

He held onto my hat and I held onto his as we drifted off to sleep, unknowing of the days that lie ahead of us.

**A/N: Okay, so quite a lot of pairing hints in this chapter. One subtle one, Bebe/Tweek, which is one that just sort of happened. Cartman/Butters, more hints. Kenny/Everyone, a hard one to miss, might I add. Wendy/Stan, Stan felt bad for Wendy, if that counts. Clyde/Token friendship stuff, Token hugged Clyde in his early morning crybaby session. And the sort of overpowering one-sidedness from Stan with Stan/Kyle! Little bits and pieces of pairings in this chapter if you found them, even though I sort of just told you. If you don't like the pairings I add in the story, then go buzz off. I mean, not to be rude, but if you are going to harshly criticize my story just because I put a little romance in it of a pairing you don't like, then you can go read one that does have a pairing you agree with. (I hope that little speech didn't send my followers flying off into space or something…) Anyway, please remember to review and favorite and follow and all that good stuff! The next chapter might take a while, though, so I'm sorry for the wait in advance!**


	4. June 20th, 2013

**June 20****th****, 2013**

Stirring awake from a shout that came from another room, I felt an arm over my chest and glanced over at Kyle, who was practically hugging me with my hat still near his other hand. I sighed, realizing that I didn't want to stand up and get out of bed because of Kyle's arm. If I moved, he'd probably wake up, and no one likes a cranky Kyle in the morning. Cartman would always use to say that Kyle's the worst in the morning because he has "sand in his vagina".

Remembering his exact words, I giggled softly, closing my eyes and trying to shut out the shouting from the other room. It wasn't an "I'm being murdered, dear God help me" sort of scream, just one that was annoying as hell. And yes, it was infuriating listening to it, but it didn't seem so bad considering that my overall physical body felt utterly relaxed and at peace. Unfortunately, it was a bit cold, considering the blankets were nearly kicked off the bed.

I sensed a movement from beside me and felt Kyle's soft clothes while he squeezed up against me, nuzzling his head into the nook of my neck. The touch made my own figure tense up for a moment before calming again after I realized that it was him. Still, it did feel strange having my best friend's body so close— and in a _bed_ at that! Although, at the same time it was a soothing and reassuring sort of sensation. If I was on my side turned to him, this would be a lot worse.

I beamed, feeling unusual at the moment, mostly because of my thoughts, but I don't have to write in here what I was pondering about. The thoughts in my head were pleasant, despite my slight disagreement with them.

Dare I say it, one of the thoughts in my mind is true, but I would never _ever _speak about it to Kyle. He'd probably raise an eyebrow and ask me again if that's what I said, or worse, he wouldn't even say anything. I know Kyle, and the thought I have is certainly not something I should ever remind him of, at least, not now, not during this whole apocalypse situation. Once it ends I'll tell him.

A few minutes later, Kyle woke up, eyes blinking while his arm hugged me tighter. "Oh, so you finally decided to wake up, huh?"

He moved his head away from my neck swiftly and let go of me while exclaiming, "Yes, and I'm glad I did! Oh god, what was I doing, Stan?" He stared at me, wide-eyed and red-faced from realizing that he was abnormally close to me.

"You were just hugging me, dude. It wasn't that big of a deal," I muttered, turning my head to look at him, "And, well, it felt sort of nice…" My face tinted pink as I handed him his hat back.

Placing it back on his head, Kyle replied, "You aren't still thinking about that dream of yours, are you?"

"No, of course not, Kyle!" I said, fixing my jacket while I stood up on my feet from the bed. After taking my own hat back and putting it on my head, I mumbled, "Not about the dream…"

Kyle sighed, stuffing his hair inside his hat with only a few strands sticking out in the back. He stood up and heard the same screaming that I was hearing before. "Who's screaming?"

"I don't know. It's been going on for a couple minutes." I answered, following Kyle as he walked out of the room, checking every other room for the culprit. We found that the shouts were coming from Butters, who was currently being squished to death by Cartman's fat ass.

Cartman was on top of Butters, but he wasn't awake. "F-Fellas! Help me, Eric is hurtin' me!"

Kyle walked over to Cartman, punched him in the back, and shouted, "Get the fuck off of Butters!"

Cartman woke up right away, falling onto the floor before Kyle, "You fucking asshole! I was trying to sleep!"

"You were nearly crushing Butters with your fat ass!" Kyle shouted as I helped Butters up from the bed. It was obvious that he was hurt, so I went to Craig and Tweek's room to grab a first aid kit from our supplies as Kyle and Cartman squabbled over an issue that is done and over with.

Once I took out the bandages and scissors, Butters and I went into the bathroom. It was sparkly clean, except the towels and hair products from the shelves were strewn about on the floor. Butters plopped down on the little cushiony seat that was in the bathroom as I unraveled some of the bandages.

"Hey, Stan, I'm not really hurt or anythin', you don't have to—"

"You should explain the cuts and bruises on your legs, then." I interrupted, pulling up his pant legs. My words were a demand, not a question, and Butters knew that. "Those were from Eric, I think. But my stomach hurts more than those do, so I'm not really sure where I got 'em from." Butters responded with a frown on his face, helping me with moving his pant legs as far up as they could go while removing his jacket.

I glanced at him with one of my eyebrows raised as I finished up cleaning the cuts on his legs, "Are you sure?"

"Y-Yeah, I think they're just from falling before we got to the grocery store the other day…nothing else." Butters muttered, turning his head to look at the floor at a different angle, "Just cuts and bruises from fallin', and those monsters were no good either!"

I faintly smiled, starting to dab some hot water and soap on his arms, "…Not from something else? Like, a person?"

He was silent for a moment and then lowered his head, sniffling, "No, of course not…who would purposely harm me?" I heard a slight crack in his voice and knew that someone had, in fact, given him these marks. I would suspect his parents. We all knew that before this whole apocalypse thing started that Butters was physically abused by his parents— he just didn't have the guts to tell anyone.

"There you go." I patted him on the back as I threw some of the tissues and little scraps of bandages in a garbage can to the left of me. I grinned and stood up with the first aid kit in my hand, my knees cracking from kneeling down for such a long time.

As Butters stood up, he pulled his pant legs back down and put his jacket back on. Just as I was about to leave the bathroom, he stopped me, smiling as I turned around, "Thanks for cleanin' me up and stuff."

"Don't mention it," I said.

"I want to, though! Even when you didn't say it before, we all knew that you'd be a great leader," He exclaimed, "I didn't want to say anythin' to anyone, but personally, I thought of you right when I got to that grocery store. I was wondering, 'Where's Stan? He'd know exactly what to do!' You are actually one of the most sensible people in our group, and I think that you know what you're doing, right?"

I was speechless. Taking a compliment from Butters was a normal thing for most of the people we know, but what he said just wasn't something I'd ever thought of. This kid with tufts of scraggly blond hair on his head looks up to me. I never knew that he'd thought so highly of me.

After a few more seconds, I could only mutter a thank you. After all, I had no clue what else to say to him. Should I have responded saying that I did know what I was doing? No, if I said that, that would be lying, because, to be honest, I had no clue what to do in this situation. I was going with the flow, and I was just as frightened and afraid as everyone else.

When we left the bathroom, no one else was in their rooms anymore; they had all gone downstairs for some breakfast. Butters and I walked down the stairs and into the kitchen to find everyone sitting down at the table, laughing. Everyone had only a bowl of cereal and some milk on the side. Cereal was already set out for the two of us, so we sat down.

"Hey, Butters, you _are _okay, right, sweetie?" Bebe asked with a smile, "I heard that Cartman over there practically killed you when he was on top of you." She looked over at Cartman, who glared right back at her. Bebe seemed to give everyone little nicknames— almost like she was trying to make sure that we would be nice to her or something. Of course, we've all put her on a high pedestal before, but maybe she thought that nicknames would heighten what we all thought of her.

"Yeah, I'm fine, fellas, it doesn't really hurt all too bad." Butters answered, starting to eat his cereal.

"That's good," Wendy said, getting up from the table to wash off her dish with the limited water we had, "Whenever you need medical assistance, just ask me, okay? And that goes out to all of you. If any of you are ever hurt, just tell me, and I'll get you patched up in no time!"

I grinned as I ate my cereal, _"I'm glad that she's trying to help as much as everyone else is. She probably feels that she hasn't done anything yet to help us except cook some food yesterday."_ I giggled, thinking that Bebe should stay as the cook for us all, that meal last night was most of her cooking, and it tasted much better than Wendy's. Thinking about that gave me an idea.

"Okay everyone," I said above everyone else's voices as I stood up to put my bowl on the counter. When I got back over to the table, everyone's eyes were on me. "I think we should assign roles, that way no one feels left out, so everyone is important. What do you all have to say about that?" I waited for approval from a show of hands, and saw that everyone was comfortable with the idea.

"Who wants to go first to pick their role?" I asked, scanning for a raised hand. No one was saying a thing, so I continued, "Okay…I guess I'll start. I'm the leader. Any objections?"

More silence. "Any of you can jump in with an idea of how you'd like to help."

"I'll be the doctor!" Wendy jumped up from her seat excitedly coming to my side, intertwining her fingers with mine. I glanced down at our hands and weakly said, "A-Anyone else?"

"I have an objection to Wendy's role." Cartman said, "Girls can't be doctors, or fat bitches, so Wendy isn't qualified for that role."

"Fuck you Cartman!" Wendy shouted, furrowing her eyebrows in anger, "Of course girls can be doctors, and I'm not the fat one, you are!"

The discussion for everyone's roles went on for the longest time. No one had any ideas of a job until I gave a list to them of some ideas. And even when I did it took about an hour just for everyone to decide. After all, my ideas were just suggestions, and they clearly had to think about it for a while.

I wrote down a list of everyone's roles on a separate sheet of paper, but I wrote it down again in my journal just so I wouldn't forget: Stan (me) – Leader, Wendy – Doctor, Bebe – Cook, Kyle – Vice-Leader (every idea of mine is taken up with him before we tell everyone else), Cartman – Guard (for places that we stay in), Craig – Lock picker, Kenny – Hunter (partners with Red and Clyde), Tweek – Assistant (helps anyone who needs assistance with their role), Clyde – Guard (partners with Red and Kenny; guard for the two of them while they get food), Token – Negotiator (when running into other people, or when sneaking into a house with previous survivors), Butters – Information gatherer (for when we need to find out about something important; he will take notes), Red – Hunter (partners with Kenny and Clyde)

Man, they really did take a long time to decide. I don't even remember who went after Wendy. I'm pretty sure it was Craig; he had a fair idea of what he was skilled at. Plus, we all pretty much knew what he could do to help us out. He'd gotten us in here, but soon we'd have to leave and find another place.

The rest of the day we planned out what to do when we ran out of food. As the list of roles said, Kenny, Clyde, and Red were going to be partnered up and sometimes switch off as who wanted to be the lookout, or guard, for the trio. We had also been discussing about where we could go permanently when the destruction finally ended for good. No one really had any ideas, and the conversation ultimately finished in talking about our families.

Of course, everyone was still sitting at the table except for Bebe, who was currently cooking up a small meal for us. Kenny, Clyde, and Red would have to go out to the grocery stores again and get more food. If they really need to, they can make a weapon and hunt animals. I doubt any of them would have the guts to do it except Kenny, though.

"Hey, guys, we're running out of drinking water." Bebe exclaimed, checking the faucet for running water, "And water from the tap."

Everyone was silent after she said that. The conversations that had been taking place ended, and everyone just sat there, dumbfounded of where exactly we would find decent, drinkable water. Only in the grocery stores were there a few jugs of water, and they were probably gone from the store in South Park by now.

"We can get some water from a different store that isn't in South Park," Red said, breaking the silence. "It's pretty far away, but it's the only one that I would think to have any water. There weren't many inhabitants in the town in the first place, so it should be fully stocked." I was impressed with Red. She had barely talked at all since the beginning of the whole apocalypse event, and suddenly she knew exactly where we could go to get supplies.

When our meal was finished and the dishes were put in the sink, Cartman told me how suspicious he was of Red while we sat in the bathroom.

"I'm just saying, what if the bitch is working for the monsters, or worse, the government?" His tone told me he was being serious, but I didn't believe a word he said, dissing him off by saying that we've known her for years. He had no comment and walked away, scowling at me while he went to tell Butters about it.

I sighed and walked back into the dining room where Kyle, Tweek, Craig, Wendy, and Bebe were seated.

"Where's everyone else?" I asked. They all looked up at me, but only Craig answered, "They went upstairs to get the supplies and weapons."

"Since when did we have weapons?" I exclaimed, getting frightened. Craig just shrugged as the five of them continued to talk.

And that's when a gun went off. "You guys are such idiots!" I shouted, running upstairs.

Token, Red, Clyde, and Kenny were looking at the hand gun on the floor. They were all in the hallway, just about to take the supplies downstairs. Their eyes were widened with shock, asking, "Who set the gun off?"

None of them said a word as I lectured them. "Where the fuck did you even _find_ a gun?" The four of them stared at the floor solemnly, reminiscing about what they've done.

"What if you shot one of yourselves? Do you know how terrible that would have been? Next time you find a gun, tell me or Kyle first." I ended with telling them to say which one of them set it off.

"I did it…" Kenny muttered, raising a hand hesitantly. I picked up the gun and put it in my pocket, asking, "Did you find any other weapons? Also, Kenny, I'm not letting you handle a gun. Not after this." He lowered his head and said sorry almost a thousand times.

"We found six or seven more stuck inside some of the dresser drawers. I really don't know who would hoard so many guns at once, but a note that was attached said that we could use them. The rest are in here," Clyde answered, showing me the inside of one of the backpacks.

"At least you didn't set those off, too." I whispered to myself as Clyde, Token, and Red walked away with the backpacks slung onto their back. Hopefully they had been smart enough to empty two of the backpacks to put the jugs of water and other things we needed inside. I checked every room and sure enough, they had emptied the backpacks.

As soon as we all got out the door and locked it behind us to set back out into the forest, Kenny came over to me to talk. I was in the back, making sure that no one got left behind, and Red was at the very front, showing our group where to turn to get to the grocery store.

"I'm really sorry about what happened before. I swear, it was an accident." Kenny said, turning his head to me. "I was holding the gun in my hand to give to Clyde and then it just went off! I didn't even do a thing except check for ammunition!"

I kept my head facing forward as I spoke, "The fact that you found the guns and didn't tell me first was what you did wrong. You should have been more careful, and you definitely shouldn't have checked for ammo. _That _was what you did."

Kenny sighed and went back up to where Red was. Everyone was standing beside their partners, and Kenny had just abandoned his to tell me that he was sorry. Of course, Kyle, being my partner and walking next to me, heard the whole conversation.

"You didn't have to be so harsh on him." Kyle said after Kenny went back up next to Red.

"Of course I did. He could have killed someone!" My eyebrows furrowed as I kept a steady pace with the rest of the group.

"He _could have. _It's over now Stan, and everyone is okay. You don't have to be such a dick about it."

Okay, that got me furious. "I'm not being a dick! _He _was the one who wasn't paying attention to what he was doing!"

"It's all in the past; you have to let go of it now." Kyle sternly remarked, turning his head to me while pushing me a little. It was a playful push, but with all the arguing we were doing, it kind of seemed like a threat. Well, not really, Kyle isn't one to pick fights.

I exhaled loudly, "Fine. I don't feel like fighting with anyone right now anyway. This whole situation makes my head hurt." I rubbed my temples and shut my eyes for a few seconds.

"If it makes you have such a bad headache, maybe you need to take a break. Last night and this morning, you stayed up, stressing about what to do next, huh?" Oh great, more to worry about. He knew that I was up early and stayed up late.

"No, I don't need to. Not yet." I went a little ahead of Kyle as the rest of the group walked into the grocery store carefully. It was nearing dusk, so luckily we came at a time that those creatures slept.

After entering the grocery store, we found that most of the shelves were fully stocked. We loaded up the backpacks and our arms with every jug of water, medicine, and food items we could hold. Everyone was starting to get exhausted only after a few minutes of walking, but I told them that there was only a little more ways to go until we got back.

And that's when we heard a growl. "What was that?" Someone asked. I can't remember who said it, but he regretted saying anything.

Another snarl. Rustling of bushes and trees. We tried to run as fast as our legs with these supplies could carry us. Being at the back, I wasn't sure how much longer I'd be able to run with this in my hands without the creature catching me. High-pitched noises and screams emitted from the creature.

After that, it just suddenly stopped. The crunching of grass and dirt stopped, and the growls halted. Still, we ran all the way back to the house, stopping only to open the door at the front.

Dropping all of the supplies and bags in the kitchen was the first thing everyone took part in doing, but then there were a lot of questions. Questions I couldn't answer myself, even so they were being asked.

"What was that thing?"

"Are we going to be okay?"

"What if it catches us?"

I screamed at the top of my lungs. "EVERYONE JUST SHUT THE HELL UP!" As we stood around in the kitchen, everyone stared at me, wide-eyed. "We can't panic. And we can't ask questions that obviously we don't have the answer to. It _didn't _catch us. We _are _going to be okay, and that thing…it was probably just the result of the cancer vaccine. All that matters is that we aren't dead."

After that, everyone put the supplies into cabinets and then headed straight off to bed— exhausted from all the running and the whole day in general. Before going back to the room to hit the sack, I was washing my face off in the bathroom. Not just because of the grime and dirt that caked my face, but because of stress.

"Why did I choose to be the leader?" I whispered to myself, drying my face off with a hand towel that was next to the sink. "It's eating my youth and fearlessness away. God, I am so scared..." I closed my eyes, placed my hands over my face, and sobbed into them.

"_Why can't we just go back to the craziness of our town? I'd much rather prefer boring zipline trips or being stuck in a blockbuster store on Halloween…" _I thought, rubbing my face with my hands before putting them back at my sides. _"I have to be strong, though." _I sniffled, "If I'm not strong for them, then we really will fall apart." Moments later I turned off the light in the bathroom and went back into the bedroom with Kyle. My eyes felt like they had tons of weight on them, but even so I couldn't sleep. Writing in this journal is what I intend to do when I can't sleep. And maybe in a few minutes, I just might be able to shut my eyes and dream, free of the stress and of the worry.

I'm unable to do that. I have to have a strategy. I have to ensure everyone else's safety and ease before my own. After writing down this last sentence, I set the journal on the bedside table and tried to let myself relax.

**A/N: Almost 4000 words this chapter? Oh shit! No wonder it took so long! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter; it sure took me a long time to plan out what would happen next. I decided that a first encounter with the creatures would be a perfect fit to end the chapter. Pairing hints; you can figure out yourself and maybe post a list of what you thought they were in the reviews. Along with that, please review the chapter and favorite!**


	5. June 28th, 2013

**June 28th, 2013**

It's been over a week since we found this house, and it almost feels too frightening to leave, but that's what we've all decided to do. We didn't do much this morning except pack up our belongings and try to set the house as it was before. A small recap would be enough.

"What's going on downstairs?" I asked, listening to the random shouts and bangs that came from the living room. Kyle rubbed the sleep from his eyes while fixing the hat on his head, "I don't know. Go check it out." Everyone else but us seemed to be awake already, so I stood up from the bed and walked out of the room, smoothing out the wrinkles on my clothes.

Apparently breaking the table in the living room seems sensible to the people in the room. "What the hell are you guys doing?" I was not in the mood to yell, nor to get mad at anyone.

Kenny, Cartman, Red, and Butters stared at me with fear in their eyes. Either they're scared that I'm going to yell or just not awake enough and are adjusting their eyesight. "Uh, we were breaking the table for wood." Cartman said, chuckling a little.

"Wood? We don't need wood, we're leaving this house today."

"Firewood for just in case we don't find another place to stay by tomorrow." Cartman quickly replied, smashing the legs of the table with a sledgehammer.

"Who's making all that—" Bebe and Wendy walked in the room and rubbed their eyes to make sure this was actually happening. Wendy stared at them and deadpanned, "What the fuck are they doing."

"Getting firewood I guess?" I said. Bebe smacked her forehead and went into the kitchen to cook up the last of our food supply. Sometimes I think that maybe she finds refuge in cooking and purposely does it even when no one's hungry.

Like I said, most of the day was just packing up our belongings, cleaning, or rather, destroying, the house, and have a lot of conversations. I walked back upstairs and found Craig and Tweek in the bathroom. Tweek seemed to be crying, and Craig was attempting to comfort him. The sympathy I feel for everyone is much stronger than for myself. Thinking back about a month ago, I wouldn't have cared what happened to my friends as much as I do now. Walking past the room and into the room with all our supplies, I looked down at my feet and sighed.

"This is so overwhelming. Everything about the whole world ending is just too much to handle for us. We're only kids, and we've had to deal with so much more than just a school dance being canceled like normal kids." I whispered, hoping that someone had heard what I said. Unfortunately, no one answered back, so I was forced to haul the supply bags alone.

Downstairs, everyone was talking and laughing. It was almost time for us to leave at the moment, so they were trying to enjoy the last meal here. After setting the backpacks by the door, I took a seat next to Cartman and started to nibble on the food. It was only some peaches and peanut butter bread. All we were eating then was the stuff that would spoil the easiest. Once this food is gone, we will have no more, and will have to stock up on more food once we get going.

"Okay everyone." I clapped my hands together and stood up. "It's time to leave. Dusk just arrived, as you can see, and we need to head outside now. Everyone who is capable of shooting a gun will get one. We only have eight, though, so four of you won't get one. Who doesn't want a gun?" No one dared raise a hand. Apparently everyone is too good of an aim not to get one. So I pointed and picked. Tweek, Butters, Red, and Clyde. Clyde glared at me when I picked him, muttering words that didn't reach my ears— most likely an insult.

As soon as the pairs were together and the bags were slung across our shoulders, we waved farewell to the house, slowly dragging one foot after the other. The door was tightly shut, but not locked, in case any other humans were to come across the house. We also left a note on the inside of the door, mentioning word of the clean beds and the safe perimeter. This whole week the only unusual thing that's happened is seeing that creature lurking near the grocery store. And we certainly weren't going to let anyone else set foot near the area, so that was included in the note, too.

Walking isn't the easiest thing to do with pounds of weight on your shoulders, especially when someone in the back is always asking if they can rest their legs or stop and take a piss. Annoying was a word to define it. We've had to wait for someone else at least ten times now, and it's only been an hour.

"Hurry up, Token! We have to get moving again." I hollered from behind a bush. Everyone else was impatiently sitting down on the saturated grass, a few complaining about how irritating it was to have to keep waiting around. Funny story, those select few were also culprits of making the group wait.

A couple moments later, he finished, walking back to the rest of us with a barrage of sorrys leaving his mouth. We all stood back up on our feet and continued strolling farther into the overgrown forest. This forest on top of a mountain was becoming more like a graveyard with lifeless, torn apart bodies scattered around the ground as if they were about to be dropped into a grave. No telling what killed them, probably one of the creatures. It's unlikely that those people had ever seen what was coming at them; a blink of an eye and it was over, the rest of the creatures feeding on the body like it was going out of style.

It's been nearly two hours and no one's said another word. Hopefully they realized now that we have somewhere to be, which needs to be gotten to in at least five more hours. Since I don't exactly know where to lead everyone, the journey might take longer than I thought.

We tried our hardest not to make a noise while crunching the leaves beneath our feet, but it seemed impossible with all the discarded flesh we had to step around. Having the weak stomach that I do, it's kind of unusual that I haven't puked my guts out yet after seeing all that gore.

Thirty more minutes passed with silent walking and chirping bugs. Someone decided to start a conversation in the back, whispering to their partner. Fear was enclosed inside everyone's breath, so I got rid of my own with a drawn-out sigh. The feeling almost left me at that moment, but then there was a growl.

"Um, who just growled?" My teeth chattered as I called back to the others. No one said a word or moved an inch. The moment I knew we were in danger, I spoke only three words. "Ready your guns."

There was movement from behind. I heard the clicks of the gun and the fingers being placed on the trigger. My only thought now was that everyone be careful when shooting. Kyle and I readied our own guns and we began moving sluggishly, tiptoeing through the dense forest full of dead bodies.

The crunch of a breaking stick made everyone flinch at least twice by the time we finally left the forest. That growl was a warning to us. Even though we didn't see the creature like a week ago, we still found out that it growls like any animal. The reason we knew it was the creature was because someone noticed that all the dead bodies mostly came from wolves and other animals that growl. That being said, none of those animals are still alive.

Once we exited the forest, we came out by a deserted town. Cars were flipped over, and more dead bodies and entrails lay on the ground as we walked through. Our feet sloshed through the blood of the deceased townspeople that flooded the street. A lump began to form in my throat, and after a while I felt bile rising from my stomach due to the horrid stench surrounding us. Everyone plugged their noses with balls of tissue paper from our supplies and took frequent deep breaths to try and block out the smell, with little success.

We tried our hardest to depart the town before any of us threw up, but our efforts were fruitless, and soon came another horrible stench as we trudged through the desolate area.

No one muttered a word for fear of another creature coming out of the blue from a house or building. I didn't intend on leading everyone into a building in this place, mostly because of the smell and the blood-flooded streets. It was outrageous to see so much of the red liquid just lying on the ground like a pond, and frankly, it scared all of us to death.

Almost another hour passed before we actually left the town. Everyone sighed sighs of relief and unplugged their noses of tissue paper, discarding it into a trash can nearby. As we hiked up a mountain, I asked if anyone had any ideas on where to stay for the night.

"Not at that town, that's for sure." Craig replied. I could barely see four feet in front of me as midnight approached, and once my eyes started growing heavy, I picked up the pace, telling everyone to get moving faster.

The moment after we trekked up the mountain, ready to descend, we heard another growl. This time it was closer. Everyone scrambled to get their guns from their pockets or the supply bag or wherever they put it, but we already heard a scream from the back. That scream brought on others, as well as gun shots. The growl, the shouts, and the gun shots all ended when we saw the creature on the ground, dead.

We all stared at it in disbelief. It was enormous in size and had a hunched back. Barely at all did it even look like the human it started out as. It had dead skin flaking off its body every second, and soon it disintegrated into nothing, as if it was never there. Someone had been able to kill it, but only after it was dead did we, staring down at the creature as it disappeared, realize that two of our group members were gone.

That's when my panic mode went into overdrive. Someone among us had been attacked.

I counted heads, placing their names on a mentally constructed list that they are safe. Kyle, Wendy, Bebe, Token, Clyde, Craig, Tweek, Red, Kenny...

Oh no.

A pair of feet rushed over, carrying the victim of attack. Everyone turned their heads before clasping a hand over their mouth, gasping.

"H-Help me..." A weak voice floated to my ears, and I dropped the supply bag from my back and took out the necessary supplies to tend to his wounds. "Wendy! Get over here!" My booming scream made her immediately come running over.

She looked as if she didn't know what to do as Cartman placed Butters gently on the ground in front of her. "W-Wendy...please help me! Th-This really hurts!" Grimacing, Cartman turned his head away from the blood seeping through Butters' jacket. As Wendy took out some disinfectant wipes, she unzipped his jacket and ripped some bandages from the roll with her teeth. "Get me the water! Quick!" Everyone stood there for a moment, but soon realized what exactly happened. They practically threw the supply bags off their backs, taking out jugs of water. Only one made its way over to Wendy.

As Wendy cleaned and dressed the wound, I stood up and walked over to Cartman, still shooting my gaze down at Butters as I spoke. "Did you see it happen?" Choked screams emitted from Butters as Wendy gently wiped his wound over with the disinfectant wipe.

"No. It happened so quick that I could barely even click the trigger fast enough. But, it did die, and Butters is probably gonna be okay." Cartman paused and sniffled a bit, rubbing his eyes with his fists. "...This couldn't have happened at a worse time, right, Stan?"

"Yeah, it couldn't." Butters and Wendy stood up from the ground, the supplies were put back into the bags and slung back across everyone's shoulders. Butters walked slowly over to Cartman, trembling. Cartman placed his arm around Butters' shoulder and helped him walk. At that moment, a smile formed on Butters' face. "Th-Thanks Eric..."

We all got walking again. Blank stares and guilt-ridden looks that said "why couldn't it have been me?" covered everyone's faces, especially Cartman's. Cartman continued to help Butters walk, but after a while Butters told him he could walk on his own. "I-It's not like my leg is busted up! I'll be fine, Eric." Cartman sighed, removing his arm from Butters' shoulder. "...Don't come to me when you actually do fall and break your leg."

There was only about another hour left of darkness in the sky until dawn started to settle in, so we picked up our pace, flicking our eyes in every direction to look for a house. "Hey!" I called back to everyone else, "Next time something like that happens, we can't panic. We'll need to learn how to act better in that type of situation."

"Okay..." The response was a weak one, but I'm sure that everyone is willing to work on not shooting their guns all at once.

After passing more trees, we finally came to the base of the mountain. There, we found houses, all big and cabin-like, as if they were skiing lodges, but they were also secluded with only a few shops surrounding it. All the windows on the shops were broken, but the houses seemed to be in good shape.

When everyone looked up and saw the houses, they all ran to a particular one, which was the biggest and had a natural hot spring next to it. After Craig picked the lock, they rushed inside and immediately rummaged around. Cartman and Butters caught up to everyone only a moment after.

The door was shut, lanterns were turned on, and rooms to sleep in were picked. This time there was only 4 bedrooms, so two pairs would have to sleep elsewhere, such as in the living room. I decided it'd be best if Kyle and I sleep there, and Bebe and Wendy asked if they could as well. Anyone else would have thought that the girls would want to be comfortable when they sleep, but these two are tough.

Once all the supplies were put in the dining room, windows were shut, blinds were closed, and lanterns were turned off, everyone snuggled up on their beds and tried to get some sleep. With dawn just breaking, everyone intended on sleeping the entire day...

...which is completely fine. No one has anywhere to be any time soon. Never again will we see our family. Never again will we feel completely safe and at ease.

That day, I realized that nothing will ever be the same.

**A/N: It's been a long time since I updated, huh, guys? Well, I hope you enjoyed that chapter as much as I did writing it. Review please!**


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